Bay Area counties toughest on black drug offenders

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 12/04/2007 | Leslie Fulbright

[KingofZion]

San Francisco imprisons African Americans for drug offenses at a much higher rate than whites, according to a report to be released today...

*** San Francisco locks up a higher percentage of members of the African American community in drug cases than any other county in the study. In the county, 123 people out of every 100,000 are sent to state prison each year for drug offenses. Of those, whites are incarcerated at a rate of 35 per 100,000 white people, while blacks are incarcerated at a rate of 1,013 per 100,000 black people.

"It is not that San Francisco is sending a lot of people to prison for drug offenses, it is that the people they are sending are black," said Jason Ziedenberg, executive director of the institute. "An average citizen who uses drugs in San Francisco has a pretty low chance of going to prison, but if you are African American, the chances are fairly high."

*** San Francisco has a small population of African Americans - 6.7 percent of the total, according to the Census Bureau's 2006 American Community Survey - but Ziedenberg said the numbers have a concentrated impact within that community. African Americans are going to prison for drug offenses at a rate that is 28 times higher than the rate for whites.

*** At the time of that report, San Francisco police cited several factors that contribute to the disparity. Police officials said most of the dealers coming from out of town by BART or car to sell drugs are African Americans; that black drug dealers often sell out in the open on street corners, increasing their chances for arrest; and that the department devotes a lot of resources to combatting gangs of youths responsible for many of the city's black-on-black homicides.

[KingofZion]

Of course, the study didn't look at the details. If it did, it might find that people charged with drug crimes are often plea-bargained down from more serious violent crimes and gun violations.

The police in SF don't charge people with possession - they rarely even cite people for smoking a joint. So it takes a nice quantity of narcotics to even result in an arrest, and then you get kicked within a day.

"The study also found counties with higher poverty and unemployment rates send people to prison more" - doh!

[clamper1797]

Women and minorities hardest hit ...

[Oldexpat]

If I read these statistics correctly..it only means that it is likely that blacks are participating in more drug crime than whites.

[Lorianne]

What is the comparison of: percentage of white drug offenders sent to prison vs. the percentage of black drug offenders sent to prison?

I did not see that in the article.

[Squawk 8888]

Or that they are less likely to have access to high-powered lawyers and well-connected relatives to make the charges go away. Most likely it’s a bit of both.

[wideawake]

whites are incarcerated at a rate of 35 per 100,000 white people, while blacks are incarcerated at a rate of 1,013 per 100,000 black people

And what are the arrest rates vs. the incarceration rates?

And what percentage of incarcerated blacks are doing time for a second or third offense?

And what percentage of blacks are incarcerated for dealing vs. possessing?

And what percentage for whites?

This statistic is utterly meaningless and decontextualized.

[stylin19a]

I hate math...
there’s approx 745k population in S.F.
blacks are approx 7% of the population.
ego the black population is approx. 50k.

So, how do they figure blacks are incarcerated at a rate of 1,013 per 100,000 black people ?

and how is this 28 times higher than whites, when the white population is 8 times the black population.

It seems in just pure numbers, more whites go to jail than blacks.

my head hurts.

[AngelesCrestHighway]

You have read it correct,the “non-liberal way”.

[goldstategop]

"Bay Area liberals put n*ggers in their place." You won't ever see that headline in the MSM. Why in the Bay Area, the most liberal and progressive region in America, do they lock up more blacks than whites? In the face of liberal racism, where are the Justice Brothers and the NAACLP? Doesn't this merit media attention?

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[VOA]

Bay Area counties toughest on black drug offenders

Ah yes, Liberal, Enlightened California.

Reminds me of the defense lawyer that kindly talked (outside court)
with the jury after I'd finished my term as an alternate in Santa Monica.
(the jury convicted the black defendant on sex-assault charges...)

The defense lawyer told me that he always knew his clients were in
trouble if professional FEMALES were in the majority on the jury.
He said "those gals are worried about security...they put away
a guy on any pretext in search of their own security in their neighborhood!"

These are probably the sort of women that keep sending nuts like
Henry Waxman back to the House of Representatives...but when it
comes to their local areas...they want defendants SMACKED DOWN.

[AZLiberty]

Seems like the story here, hardly news, is that San Francisco blacks commit more than their share of drug crimes.

[glorgau]

I thought third grade was toughest on them.

[KingofZion]

Ironically, Kamela Harris, the SF District Attorney is black, as is the former mayor, Willie Brown. She’s going to have a tough time digesting this one.